The invention relates to medical devices generally, and more particularly to systems for applying surgical fasteners that secure membranes to biological tissues such as bone.
In surgery, for example reconstructive oral or dental surgery, when grafting bone a membrane is placed over the bone to allow the bone to regrow without contamination. The membrane is typically fastened to the bone using screws or hand-driven tacks. Because the screws used are small, and therefore hard to drive into bone, they currently are rarely used in oral surgery.
Hand driven tacks are more commonly used. In use, the tacks are held by a pick up tool and driven into position with a mallet. The tacks may also be pushed into position by hand. The tools employed with tacks, however, tend to be bulky and, given that the tacks used tend to be small, the tacks are hard to handle.
There is a need, therefore, for a surgical fastener system that facilitates the handling and use of tissue tacks in dental surgery
One aspect of the invention is a surgical fastener driver having a handle and a tube extending therefrom. The handle defines a cavity therein. The tube is in communication with the cavity and is affixed to the handle. The tube extends outwardly from the cavity to a seat, which is shaped so as to receive a surgical fastener therein. A piston, having an outward end, is disposed within the tube and extends from the cavity to the seat. The piston has a retracted position in which the outward end does not extend into the seat, and an extended position in which the outward end extends into the seat.
A trigger is integrated with the handle of the fastener driver, and has a first state in which the piston is held in the retracted position, and a second state in which the piston is released so as to allow the piston to move to the extended position. A driver is disposed within the cavity and exerts an outward force on the piston in order to drive the piston into the extended position when the trigger is moved into its second state.
In another aspect, the invention is a surgical fastener for securing surgical membrane materials to body tissues (such as bone). The fastener includes a tack that includes an elongate stem having a proximal end and a distal end, a head disposed at the proximal end of the stem, and a plurality of discrete axially spaced annular ribs disposed in successive longitudinal positions along the stem. The head has a diameter sized to frictionally fit within the seat of a delivery device, which may include, for example, the surgical fastener driver described above.
In yet another aspect, the invention is a holder for surgical fasteners that includes a first block and a second block. The first block has a top surface and defines a plurality of cavities opening to the top surface, wherein each cavity is shaped so as to be capable of receiving a tack therein. The second block has an upper surface and an opposite lower surface complementary in shape to the top surface of the first block. The second block defines a plurality of holes passing from the upper surface to the lower surface, each of which is in alignment with a corresponding cavity in the first block when the lower surface of the second block is placed against the top surface of the first block. A loading pin is disposed within a selected one of the plurality of cavities through at least a portion of the corresponding hole.
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the following drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.